Rusty Old Horse - Campaigner (Neil Young cover)

Filmed in Quartzsite, AZ

I always imagined Neil Young's 'Campaigner' to be written from the perspective of an alien from another planet, visiting Earth for a long stretch of time and describing what he witnesses.

'Campaigner' is a song of solitude and longing. The alien sees all the negativity and war and lies and destruction all around him. But he is only an observer. He does not have a voice or any influence on the people of this world. Instead, he can only grieve about the all the suffering, knowing that there seems to be nothing they can do about it.

The alien's deep compassion stretches out even to the absolute worst characters alive on the planet. The alien finds sympathy for Richard Nixon - who had famously recently tried to cheat America.

Young wrote 'Campaigner' after Nixon's wife, Pat, suffered from a stroke. Upon the realization that Nixon may be human after all. The suggestion being that, forgiveness may be found within ourselves, even for those people who have committed the most heinous acts imaginable on society and Mother Earth.

Music and Lyrics by Neil Young
Original recording released 1977

Lyrics:
I am a lonely visitor
I came too late to
Cause a stir

Though I campaigned
All my life
Towards that goal

I hardly slept
The night you wept
Our secret's safe and
Still well kept

Where even Richard Nixon
Has got soul
Even Richard Nixon
Has got soul

Traffic cops are all
Colorblind
People steal from
Their own kind

Evening comes
Too early
For a stroll

Down the neon streets
The streaker streaks
The speaker speaks
But the truth still leaks

Where even Richard Nixon
Has got soul
Even Richard Nixon
Has got soul

The podium rocks in
The crowded waves
The speaker talks of
The beautiful saves

That went down
Long before
He played this role

For the hotel queens
And the magazines
Test tube genes
And slot machines

Where even Richard Nixon
Has got soul
Even Richard Nixon
Has got soul

Hospitals have made him cry
But there's always a
Freeway in his eye

Though his beach just got
Too crowded
For his stroll

Roads stretch out like
Healthy veins
And wild gift horses
Strain the reins

Where even Richard Nixon
Has got soul
Even Richard Nixon
Has got it
Soul

I am a lonely visitor
I came too late to
Cause a stir

Though I campaigned
All my life
Towards that goal